Hostage Crisis
by d-kronk
Summary: GC The first story in my holiday series. Gil and Catherine talk about their holiday plans when they are suddenly interrupted. GC


Title: Hostage Crisis

Author: Angie

Email: hill@grics.net

Disclaimers: CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them. 

Author's Notes: Welcome to December 10 of the Graveshift December Challenge. I'm sure you're reading this title and thinking this is a Christmas fic? And rightfully so, I'm sure you'll be asking the same thing at the end. This is my challenge fic, just remember the challenge was for a holiday fic… I will rightfully admit that this is not really holiday like, but it's the first of a four part series. I promise the next three will have much more of the holiday spirit, or at least the next one… I'm still diligently writing the final two. Many thanks to Suzanne for betaing this for me, someday I will include the author's notes before I send the fic to beta, because I am sure there are mistakes in this…

Spoilers: Nothing really

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage, www.graveshiftcsi.com ... all others please ask.

*~*~*~*

Catherine looked across the table at the man across the table. Slowly, she moved her focus down to the table, watching as his thumb moved back and forth across the back of her hand.

"Are you listening to me? Catherine?"

She watched the hand squeeze hers lightly bringing her out of her thoughts. "What?"

"What are you thinking about?" 

"Nothing." 

"'Nothing,'" Gil repeated. "Then what was I saying?"

Catherine could feel the blush come to her face, realizing she had been trapped. "Just because I don't remember what you said doesn't mean I was thinking. I was watching our hands. Or more realistically, I was watching your thumb on my hand."

"And that didn't bring any thoughts to your mind?" Gil smiled, waiting to hear the reply Catherine would come up with next.

"Do you really want to know?" Catherine asked, waiting for Gil's nod before continuing. "I was just thinking…. Never mind, it's not important."

"You want to go to that Christmas party don't you?" 

"No. I want to go to the party with you. Not just meet you there." Catherine pulled her hand away from Gil's, grabbing the tea she had been drinking.

"So do I, Cath… but we can't. We've talked about this before…"

"I know, I know. It's just that once in a while I want us to be able to go out with our co-workers and friends, instead we hide our feelings from everyone we know. I want to be able to touch you whenever I like, not just when I'm sure no one is around." Catherine sighed as she set down her drink and moved her hands back over to Gil's. "I'm sorry. I'll stop complaining. We don't get out alone very often, and I go and ruin the evening whining about a party we're both attending. We'll both be spending all our time together anyway."

"You didn't ruin the evening." Gil leaned across the table, quickly brushing his lips over Catherine's before sitting back in his chair. "We still have about an hour before we need to leave for work." Gil went back to stroking his thumb over Catherine's hand, watching her reaction. His eyes drifted from her face, slowly moving down to her outfit. "Is that a new shirt?"

Catherine looked down at the sky blue top before lifting her eyes back to Gil. "I got it yesterday. Why?"

"I like it. I'm going to be pleasantly distracted by you tonight… of course I have that problem every night." 

Catherine smiled at the compliment that Gil bestowed on her, their love evident on both of their faces. "Let's get out of here. We can take the scenic route to the lab."

They both slid out of the booth, Gil placing his hand on Catherine's back as they started to make their way towards the front of the restaurant. They had only taken three steps when they stopped in their tracks. The unmistakable sounds of gunfire could be heard from somewhere nearby, shortly followed by four men running into the building, guns still in their hands. 

The sound of screams brought Gil and Catherine out of their thoughts and both inadvertently took a step back.

"Shut up! Everyone be quiet!" The bald man yelled. "Sit down now!"

Gil quickly pulled Catherine backwards with him, never taking his eyes off the men before them. They reached their table and he guided Catherine into the booth first before sliding in afterwards. He felt her eyes on him and turned his head to look her direction. His eyes conveyed the thoughts he didn't dare speak at the moment. Watching the comprehension in her eyes, he was thankful they had never relied solely on verbal communication. They turned their attention back to their captors.

The other three men seemed to be following the orders of the bald man who had spoken earlier. The restaurant staff were being corralled into the dining area with the rest of the patrons. One of the other men had locked the door to the restaurant and was currently shutting all of the blinds. 

The room was still as everyone waited to see what was going to happen next. The sound of the phone ringing brought movement out of the bald captor. He walked over to the phone and picked up, not saying a word into the phone at first.

"About thirty," he replied into the phone. "We'll tell you what we want later." The phone slammed down and he turned back to his friends. "Gather their personal items. Let's see what these people have." 

Catherine placed her purse on the tray before her, the man waiting for Gil to empty his pockets and place the items on the tray as well. Just as Gil placed his beeper on the tray, it began buzzing. The man took the beeper and glanced at the message. "Who is Brass, and why is he telling you there is a 911 at this address? And what is a 420? You're a cop aren't you!?" By the time he spoke his last words the ring leader was at their table.

"I'm not a cop. I'm a scientist." Gil explained calmly, hoping the men wouldn't ask anymore questions.

The bald man picked up Gil's wallet and flipped it open. "So Mr. Scientist, if you're not a cop what are you doing with this badge?"

"I'm a scientist, a criminalist. Look at the badge. It doesn't say I'm an officer. I'm a civilian, I gather fingerprints." Gil explained, trying to downplay his job as much as possible. "Brass is one of the homicide detectives. He's telling me there is a homicide at this address. Look out the windows, the police are going to be out there." He let out a sigh as the two men backed slightly away. 

After being motioned to, the man at the door peaked through the blinds looking into the parking lot. "He's right. The cops are out there."

No one spoke for a few minutes. The hostages too scared to speak, and the criminals waiting for their ringleader to tell them what to do. The silence in the room made the beeping from the hostages belongings impossibly loud. The ringleader rummaged through the belongings and found the offending device. He quickly read the message on the beeper before looking around the room at the prisoners. He stopped looking when his gaze returned back to Gil and Catherine.

"Let me guess, you two work together. Care to explain why you were trying to hide that information?"

Gil spoke up before Catherine had a chance. "We weren't hiding a thing. No one asked."

"Stand up." At Gil and Catherine's hesitance, he spoke again this time much louder. "I said stand!"

They both slid out of the bench and stood before the two men, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

"Where are your 'pieces'?"

"What?" Catherine asked.

"Your guns. I know you cops carry your guns when you're off duty. Where are they?"

"We aren't cops. We only carry when were on duty, and even then we don't carry all of the time," Catherine replied, shooting a look to Gil as she said this.

"Turn around," the boss told them, motioning with his hands. "And spread them."

Catherine and Gil turned and looked at each other, both seeing the fear in each other's eyes.

"I'm not carrying. Look in my purse. It's empty and you have it. And it's obvious I don't have it on me." Catherine was hoping she could persuade this man to not touch her, but the glint in his eyes was all she needed to know that she wasn't going to win the argument. She turned around slowly, as commanded, and adjusted her eyes so she could see Gil.

"You take him, I'll check…" the ringleader found Catherine's purse in the pile of belongings and dug through for her identification. "Catherine… that's a nice name. I want to check Catherine myself."

Gil quickly straightened himself and turned to confront the man, but quickly found himself face down into the table. 

"Don't make this harder then it should be, Mr. Scientist. No one is going to get hurt unless you do something stupid. You got that?" He watched as the emotions crossed Gil's face, waiting for an answer. "I said do you got it? You better learn to answer me, or this is going to be a very long day for you and your girlfriend here. So?" 

"I got it." Gil tersely replied. 

Gil and Catherine locked eyes on each other. Catherine didn't blink as she felt the hands start to caress her body. Gil forced himself to relax as he saw the tears start to well up in Catherine's eyes, the man's hands trying to manipulate reactions out of both of them. Ten agonizing minutes later, the hands tightened on her body… pulling her back into his body.

Catherine let him pull her upright, trying to show as little resistance as possible. His hands gripped tighter as his body came into full contact with her. She remained still as she felt the unfamiliar bulge press into her, forcing her hips forward into the table. His hands slowly made their way down to her waist band. Feeling the hem of her shirt move, she kicked back taking him by surprise. The grip loosened and she quickly took advantage, thrusting both of her elbows into his sides. Once free, she took a few steps back and turned to face her attacker, bracing herself for the beating she was sure would come.

The sound of the phone ringing took everyone by surprise. Catherine watched as the man turned and looked at the phone before turning back.

"You just got really lucky." He turned and walked over to the phone, followed by the man holding Gil.

Gil quickly walked over to Catherine, gathering her in his arms before sliding them back into the bench they had occupied earlier. He knew he shouldn't speak aloud to her at the moment, but couldn't help himself. "I'm so sorry, I wish that…"

"Don't. It's not your fault." She squeezed his hand tighter, taking comfort from him in one of the few ways they were allowed at the moment. She nodded towards the men across the room and they both focused on the conversation that was about to happen. The bald man picked up the phone and silence over took the entire room as they listened.

"Yeah, who's this? … It doesn't matter who I am… Fine. You need a name, just call me 'Rudolph,' like the reindeer…. I already told you about thirty! Don't you people talk to one another? By the way, do you have someone out there named Brass?… I don't need to talk to him. Just let him know that Mr. Science and his girlfriend are in here with us so they aren't going to be able to help you with Mr. Johnson out there… No, you aren't talking to anyone right now!" He slammed the phone back on the receiver and turned to look at the room.

"So… it looks like we are going to be here a while." He started walking around the room as he continued talking. "I'm sure everyone here is wondering what kind of awful men we are and how we could do something like this to you. Well, I don't care what kind of men you think we are." He came to a sudden stop in front of an elderly couple near the front of the restaurant. "See, now you are a cute little old couple. Isn't it a bit late for you to be out? Stand up." Rudolph backed away, letting the couple stand from the table. "Go on, get out of here. It's not like the two of you aren't going to die soon enough as it is. You don't need us speeding it up." Motioning one of the men to the door, he stood by and watched as the couple slowly made their way out of the restaurant. 

The door was quickly shut as the phone began ringing again. Rudolph turned and went back to Gil and Catherine's table. "Come on out, girlfriend. You're going to be answering this phone. And I don't want you trying anything funny, or Mr. Science is going to be in some serious pain." He reached across the booth and grabbed Catherine, pulling her over Gil before either had a chance to get out of the booth.

Catherine kept her eyes on Gil as she was dragged across the restaurant towards the phone. She felt the receiver pressed into her hands and brought it up to her ear.

"Hello?" she said awkwardly, not sure what her boundaries were.

"Who am I speaking to now?" The unfamiliar voice on the other end responded.

Catherine looked questioningly at their captors and moved the phone away from her mouth, covering the mouthpiece at the same time. "What do you want me to tell them? I need to know how much you want me to say."

"What are they asking?" Rudolph asked

"Right now they just want to know who they are speaking to, but there will be more questions."

Rudolph took the phone from Catherine and held it between them, pressing his head against hers so they could both listen. He nodded his head, indicating to Catherine that she could answer the question she had been asked.

"This is Catherine W…" she stopped as Rudolph pressed his hand to her mouth silencing her.

"Catherine, this is Detective Stevens. I'm with the Las Vegas Police Department. I don't want you to worry about a thing. We are going to do everything we can to make sure that you and everyone else get out of there unharmed. Can you tell me anything about the people holding you hostage?"

"No," she replied as she felt Rudolph's head shake.

"How about how many hostages are in there?"

Catherine quickly counted the people in the room as she felt the nod. "There are twenty six people in here now, including the staff."

"Can you tell me anything about them?"

"Fifteen women and eleven men. The restaurant was fairly slow when they entered, so most of the hostages seem to be employees."

"I have another officer here that wants to speak to you. Do you think that will be all right?"

Catherine applied in the affirmative when she was told to.

"Is this still Catherine?"

"Yes." Catherine heard a slight pause and intake of breath before anything else was said.

"I'm Detective Gribbs. I'm going to be handling the negotiation for now. Have you been given any indication what they want?"

Catherine immediately picked up on Brass' code and was relieved he hadn't revealed who he was. "Just a minute." She quickly replied before Rudolph pulled the phone away. Turning her head, she looked at Rudolph, waiting for him to tell her what their demands are. "Well? What do you want?"

"Right now… I really want you. My wife is cute enough, but she can't hold a candle to you. What is it you see in science boy over there anyway? What does he have that I don't have?"

Catherine could feel her hands shaking as Rudolph continued on his tirade but she remained silent, waiting for him to stop.

"What do you want me to tell Detective Gribbs?" Catherine asked, once he had stopped long enough for her to say something.

"Tell him to leave. Once all those cops go away, then my friends and I can all just leave in peace."

Catherine had to control herself not to comment. She knew there was no way this demand was going to be met. She repeated Rudolph's command into the phone and waited for the response.

"You know we can't do that."

Catherine remained silent. She knew what the response to Rudolph's request would be, but she didn't know how he would respond to the denial. 

Rudolph took the phone from Catherine's hand and hung it up. He watched the room as everyone remained still, waiting for his next move… watching to see what he would do next. Leaning forward, he moved his mouth to Catherine's ear. "I told you what I wanted was you. Maybe I should have told him I needed some condoms? Can't leave any evidence for Mr. Science to find… now, can I?" He quickly stepped away from Catherine and walked over to his friends.

Catherine stood shaking, as Rudolph's words echoed through her mind. Blinking rapidly, she tried to stop the tears from spilling down her cheeks. Catherine tried to calm her breathing as she watched her would be attacker cross the room.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Tony asked as soon as he got to the group. "We are stuck here with all these damn hostages, and you are trying to get in her pants?! We need to think of a way out of here, not play with the emotions of those fucking cops!"

"Relax. I know what I'm doing."

"You know what you're doing? Then why the hell didn't you tell that cop what we wanted? Why don't you share your big plans with the rest of us?"

Rudolph looked at his three friends, seeing the questions in their eyes. "Just trust me, I know what I'm doing. We are going to just create a distraction, then sneak away."

"But how are we…"

"I told you, trust me. It's all planned out. All the three of you need to do is trust me and everything will be fine. You don't trust me, and you are going to get us all killed. Now get back to your positions. That damn cop should be calling back in a few minutes, and I need to get back to my current task at hand. Enjoying the fun in getting that scientist enraged at me." Rudolph waited until the other three men went back to their positions. Looking around, he turned to see the looks being passed between Catherine and Gil. 'There is something up with those two,' he thought as he slowly made his way to Catherine's side, watching the look on Gil's face as he closed the distance.

"Your boyfriend doesn't seem to like me. Think it's something I did?" He whispered as he ran his hand up Catherine's arm before caressing the skin at the back of her neck.

Catherine squeezed her eyes shut as she felt Rudolph moving closer to her, his hands roaming her body once again. Praying the phone would ring again soon, she began thinking of possibilities of escape… her mind running through various scenarios and systematically rejecting them. She jumped, hearing the phone ring and let Rudolph move her hand to the phone.

"Hello." Catherine replied, before she could be prompted to do so.

"Catherine? This is Detective Gribbs again. How is everyone in there?"

"Fine. Everyone seems to be holding up fine, just wondering when we are going to be able to get out of here." The shaking and worry clearly evident in her voice.

"Trust me, we want to get everyone out of there too. So does Rudolph have a list of demands for me?"

Catherine turned her head, hoping for a better answer this time.

"Two million in small unmarked bills. They have an hour." Rudolph said.

Catherine repeated the words in the phone and waited.

"Tell him I'll try my best, but we need some of those hostages released as a sign of good faith."

Catherine again turned to Rudolph and awaited his next move. 

"I'll send out ten more people. You can pick who gets to leave. But the boyfriend stays. I've always liked an audience, especially one who is invested in the outcome." He smirked at her.

Catherine shivered at his words, reminding herself to remain calm and not let his words affect her. She looked around the room, trying to decide who should be allowed to leave. The only thing she had to base her decision on was looks, and she was desperately trying to figure out who she should choose.

"Hurry up and decide or I'll just let everyone stay and enjoy the party." Rudolph reached out and grabbed Catherine again, pulling her into his body, enjoying his power over the woman in his arms.

She quickly picked out ten people at random and silently watched as they were led to the doors and quickly walked out. Catherine scanned the faces of the remaining hostages, reading the disappointment on their faces that they weren't chosen to leave the restaurant. She turned to look at Gil and smiled slightly as she saw his love for her reflected on his face. Her smile quickly turned to a grimace when she felt the man behind her move. "How long are you going to keep us here?"

"Don't you worry your pretty little head over that. I'll be giving you plenty more to think about for the next hour or so. How far do you think I can get before that boyfriend of yours finally acts like a man and steps into action? He didn't do a thing when I had my hand up your shirt. If some guy had been doing that to my girlfriend he'd have woken up in the hospital."

"You have a guy next to him holding a gun on him, not to mention the gun you have. What the hell is he supposed to do? He doesn't have an option at the moment." Catherine was barely able to keep her contempt for the man out of her voice as she answered.

"So when given an option, you expect Mr. Scientist to become your Prince Charming and rescue you from evil. Interesting fantasy there, it will be fun to see what he actually chooses to do when the time comes." Rudolph abruptly stopped talking, watching the faces on the remaining hostages. 

Catherine relished in the silence. Without the constant noise keeping her on edge, she was able to concentrate on the situation at hand. Once again, she turned her head to Gil. Every time she thought of him, a smile would come to her face, and despite the words Rudolph had voiced earlier, she knew he was thinking of a way to get themselves and the other hostages out of their situation. His outward appearance revealed very little. He appeared to be as unemotional as always, but Catherine knew better. Even from across the room, she could see the fire in his eyes, and that fire burned more intensely each time Rudolph pulled her body into his.

Once again, Catherine let her eyes wander, stopping when she saw the clock on the wall. The hour deadline Rudolph had given was set to expire in about fifteen minutes. Whatever was going to happen, would take place soon and Catherine couldn't help the uneasiness she was feeling in the pit of her stomach. 

Rudolph saw Catherine's head turn towards the clock, and knew what she was thinking. He had to start getting everyone in the correct places. His fun was about to begin. "Okay everyone," he said loud enough for the entire room to hear, "Get to the middle of the room now, on the floor." He watched as everyone followed his command. "Tony, lock that front door and get a couple of these tables and benches in front of it… we can't make things too easy for those damned cops." He motioned for his other two friends to move towards the back near the entrance to the kitchen, and then motioned for Tony to join them once he had finished moving the tables.

Catherine felt a gun press into her head as she was pulled away from the phone and back towards the kitchen area. She instantly began fighting, knowing that she couldn't let herself be separated from the rest of the hostages if she wanted any chance at survival. She could feel his grip tighten on her waist and her panic escalated. 

The sound of the phone ringing brought all motion to a halt, momentarily. Rudolph turned to look at Gil, seeing the contempt in his eyes before raising his hand in the air and smashing the gun into Catherine's head. With little effort, he pushed Catherine's limp body towards the hostages. He rapidly fired his gun as he turned and fled through the kitchen, the other three directly behind him.

Gil quickly moved into action. He was up before Rudolph hit Catherine with the gun. Anticipating Rudolph's next move, he dove across the room hoping he would move through the air faster then Catherine. He landed on the floor seconds before Catherine landed on top of him and turned in time to see the four men fleeing the room. Rolling over, he gently placed Catherine on the floor checking to make sure she was relatively in one piece. He brushed the hair from her face and grimaced at the gash across her forehead. The continued sound of the phone ringing brought his focus away from Catherine and he quickly stepped away from her to answer the phone. 

"They went out the back. No one's been shot, but we need the paramedics in here." He slammed the phone down before receiving a response and went back to Catherine's side.

"Sir, you need to step back."

Gil looked up to see the paramedics in front of him and glanced around to see Brass standing behind them. He reluctantly moved back from Catherine and watched as the paramedics did their job.

"You should have seen her. You would have been so proud. She was completely in control the whole time. She never let that bastard see her emotions." Gil said as he felt Brass step up behind him. "Did you get them?"

"No. They never came out the back entrance. There was a tunnel in the basement of this building that led to the warehouse across the street." Brass bent down, reaching a hand out to Gil to help him up from the floor. "Let me get a statement from you real quick and I'll drive you to the hospital so you can be with Catherine. Then the two of you can tell me all about this boyfriend of Catherine's." Brass turned away from Gil before he could see the smirk on Brass' face.

~*~*~*~*~

Catherine slowly opened her eyes, breathing in the antiseptic smell and seeing the white ceiling above her head. Turning her head, she saw Gil sitting in the chair next to her and turned her eyes downward, watching his thumb softly caress her hand.

"How many stitches?"

"What?" Gil replied startled at the sudden sound.

"This gash in my head, how many stitches?"

"Fifteen."

Catherine pulled her hand back from Gil's and scooted over on the bed, making room for Gil to sit beside her. "So when are they going to let me out of this place?"

"You were unconscious, Catherine. You're going to at least be here overnight, if not longer."

"I'm fine. Besides I have to get to work. We're late already and …"

"And you are staying right here. Brass should be back in a few minutes. He went to get us some coffee. I'm sure he'll want to get your statement once he sees that you're awake." Gil reached across the bed and pressed the nurse call light. "I need to let them know you're awake." He explained at the questioning look in Catherine's eyes. 

Catherine nodded and moved her hand back to Gil's. "How much did you tell Brass? About us."

"Not a thing. I wanted us to be able to answer his questions together, and trust me… he was not happy."

"Maybe we should just start answering the questions for everyone. We could have lost each other today."

"I know, I was thinking the same thing." Gil bent down and gently kissed her, unable to resist any longer. "I have been wanting to do that for hours now."

"So about that party tomorrow…" Catherine trailed off, hoping Gil would pick up on her meaning.

"You always have gone to extremes to prove your point." Once again he placed a kiss on her lips, letting himself linger a little longer this time. "If I don't stop now, I'm not going to. We can tell the rest of the team about us tomorrow night at the party."


End file.
